Rishi Sunak is poised to launch a serious crackdown on the asylum seeker backlog within the coming days by invalidating functions in the event that they fail to return a brand new questionnaire inside 20 working days, Sky News can reveal.
A leaked Home Office letter exhibits that asylum seekers, who usually converse little or no English and have restricted entry to assist, should fill the 32-page kind beneath the coverage – which may very well be introduced as quickly as tomorrow.
“A failure to return the questionnaire without reasonable explanation may result in an individual’s asylum claim being withdrawn in line with the published policy on withdrawing asylum claims,” says the leaked letter, anticipated to be launched tomorrow.
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This comes because the variety of excellent claims for asylum is anticipated to move 150,000 for the primary time in additional than 20 years due to the surge in migrants crossing the Channel in small boats.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has declared the difficulty one in all his high priorities, and subsequent month, MPs are ready for him to publish legal guidelines to bar anybody getting into the UK illegally from claiming asylum in Britain.
The announcement comes on the eve of Labour chief Sir Keir Starmer in search of to seize the limelight by setting out his five-point plan for the longer term.
‘Streamline’
The questionnaires will initially be despatched to older asylum claims from the nations of Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen – international locations the place 90% or extra of claims are granted.
This will go to 12,000 claimants who utilized pre-June 2022.
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Daniel Hobbs, the Home Office director of asylum, safety and enforcement, writes in a letter that this is able to “streamline” the asylum course of for “claimants who are confirmed nationals of Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen”.
However, the letter warns: “Should claimants approach [organisations that help asylum seekers] for assistance, we would be very grateful if you can continue the work you do with asylum seekers in the UK by supporting them with this questionnaire.
“Twenty working days will likely be offered for claimants to return this questionnaire.
“A reminder will be sent thereafter should the questionnaire not be returned. Extensions can be requested where required.
“A failure to return the questionnaire with out affordable clarification might lead to a person’s asylum declare being withdrawn according to the printed coverage on withdrawing asylum declare.”
This has prompted fears that some asylum applications, including those from Afghanistan, will speak very little English and find it hard to get legal aid – and might not even get the letter if they have moved around the country a lot.
The Home Office says there are no further plans to roll this out to other groups.
Mr Hobbs said: “Whilst we are going to start to dispatch the asylum declare questionnaire to nationals of Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen, we might lengthen using the questionnaire as a way to assemble further info from different claimants awaiting an asylum resolution sooner or later.
“We will provide further details on this in due course.”
Responding to the Sky News leak, Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, stated: “Moves to reduce the backlog are welcome but the answer is not yet more bureaucratic hurdles and threats of applications being withdrawn.
“Quickly granting refugee standing to individuals from international locations with excessive grant charges must be a welcome first step however the course of have to be nicely thought-out.
“After living in worry and uncertainty for months and even years without hearing anything about their claims, it cannot then be fair or reasonable to expect people to complete a lengthy form only in English in a matter of weeks especially for those who don’t have access to legal advice and don’t speak English.”
Source: information.sky.com”